Working Hard or Hardly Working
by The Cowgirl Bookworm
Summary: Alex has arrived at the Lennox's to help them manage their farm. Of course, Will's guardian winds up taking everything one step to far. With national secrets tiptoeing around her life, Alex can't help but wonder why everyone she's met at this place acts so weird.
1. Arrival

Alex pulled her truck to a stop, looking at the farmhouse. It was a fairly typical one, all white washed with a big porch swing and potted flowers. A silver SUV and a big black truck were parked in the shade of it, beside an old stone chimney. _Fireplace, that's good. _Alex mused as she got out of the truck, a chorus of whines following her. Three dogs, more alike in temperament than size, had poked their heads up from the backseat and clearly wanted to join her. Alex left the keys in the truck to keep the AC running, and very firmly said, "Stay."

She wound her way through the lawn, trying to wipe off the worst of the manure sticking to her boots. She slammed her feet against a couple of stepping stones, dislodging even more. Finally, she climbed the porch steps and rang the doorbell. She could hear the chimes from outside, and it was only a moment before the door opened. The man who stood there did not quite match his voice. She had been expecting some older drill sergeant, greying hair and hard eyes. Instead he was young, his brown hair spiky on top and short on the sides. He smiled when he saw her.

A hand quickly reached out from the doorway. "Alex, right?"

She nodded, shaking his hand. "And you must be Mr. Lennox."

"Yep! Just call me Will, though." He gestured for her to come inside. She followed as he led the way, winding through a formal dining room, a living room, and finally ending in the kitchen. A woman stood there, washing dishes as her daughter, who barely came up to her knees, tried to help. Her help mainly consisted of waving a towel around. Another man, taller than Lennox, was standing by a counter, reading a paper. Alex looked at him, watching closely. _Now, that was more like what I was expecting. _The other man's black hair was spiky like Lennox's, but was greying at the sides and when he glanced at her his blue eyes were more steely than kind.

"This is Sarah, and over there's Roy. My brother." Will first pointed to the blonde woman at the sink, then to the man reading the paper. Sarah offered a wave, Roy a grunt. Will reached down, caught his daughter around the waist, and hoisted her into his arms. "And this, is Annabelle."

Alex nodded at the introductions. "Nice to meet you guys. I'm Alex, the farm manager you called."

Sarah visibly brightens at this. "Thank God! I was wondering when you'd show up. Did you have any trouble finding the place?"

She shook her head. "Google is a lifesaver."

Sarah and Will chuckle, Annabelle stares up at her, and Roy continues staring at his paper. Sarah grabs her arm and takes her outside, making for a gravel road that leads farther back into the property. Alex stops for a second. "Would you mind if I called my dogs out? They don't need to be in the truck if they don't need to."

Sarah shakes her head, and Alex trots over to the truck and opens the back door. A huge white dog jumped down, followed by a pair of smaller ones in grey and red. They followed, stopping by Sarah to receive a pat on the head. "Aww, they're so cute."

The white one was currently slobbering all over her hand as the other two begged for attention. Alex watched them with a smile. "They good girls. That's Callie, she's my sheepdog. Can't get any better than a Great Pyrenees. And those two are my herders, Jenny and Bethie." At their names the two Australian Shepards perked their ears up, tongues hanging out.

"And they work?"

"Yep, they're bred for it." Alex replied, calling the dogs back over as they started down the road. A few trees grew along it, providing a little shade. The road led to a bunkhouse, alongside a stable, a barn, an arena, and a pasture with a few pens tucked away under some tin shading. She could see the end of the pasture down aways, a gate that led out onto communal rangeland for all the farms and ranches in the area.

Underneath a pair of massive trees was a machine shop, and she could pick out the obvious John Deere paint job on the tractor inside. A concrete pad was in front, shaded from the sun. By the shop was a series of attachments for the tractor, tillers, rippers, so on and so forth.

Sarah went up to the bunkhouse door, opening it. The bunkhouse wasn't much to look out, made out of stuccoed cinderblocks with a couple windows added. Inside it wasn't much different. The first room held a fireplace and a kitchen, the next a bed and night stand. Beside that was a bathroom, barely large enough to fit the claw-footed tub under the shower head. A cloth shower curtain was shoved to the side. The dogs quickly started sniffing around, finding the other bedroom on the other side of the bunkhouse.

Sarah walked back to the main room, gesturing around. "I know it isn't much, but you'd be the only one here. We took out the beds from the other room, so you could use it as an office. And there's internet, and cable. The hot water takes awhile to heat up, but it works."

Alex smiled. "It's fine. Actually, it's pretty good."

"Thanks for coming out here again. Will's a soldier, and I'm just not that good at farming."

"That's why I'm here. I'll have everything up and running soon, hopefully." Alex brushed her brown hair away from her eyes, already eying the old wooden dining table. Truth be told, after only eating that truck stop burrito on the way up, she was starving.

"Oh, if you need any help with that. Just ask Roy." Sarah told her, already moving towards the door. "He's great with any mechanical stuff."

"Alright." Alex said, following her out but locking the dogs in. The two women trudged back up to the house, Alex heading for her truck and Sarah for the backdoor. A few minutes later, she was unloading her F250's bed. Some of the boxes were light, others heavy.

As boxes tended to be.

Finally, she pulled the last one off and stacked it inside with the others. Here was her whole life, a series of boxes containing her clothes, cooking supplies and spices, and books. Alex heaved a sigh, sat down on the floor and started unpacking.

* * *

Will rolled his eyes as Roy looked out the window towards the back. He had been doing that almost routinely, looking out every five or ten minutes like Alex would suddenly pop up with a Kalishnakov. With a grunt he let the curtain drop down, then turned to Will.

"I don't approve of bringing a stranger in. You don't know her, she could be a traitor waiting to attack. Or gathering information." He growled, pacing the small office.

Will looked up from his game of online poker. "Relax, will ya? She's fine, and she's not even staying in the house. You'd have plenty of warning time if she actually tried anything." He made a few clicks, raising the bet.

Roy merely grunted, returning to his pacing.


	2. First Morning

After a late night run to the grocery store, and an all night unpacking party, Alex groggily woke up and splashed some water on her face. Callie, Jenny, and Bethie were passed out around the room, only moving if prodded with a toe. With them out of the way of the door, she opened it and moved out into the kitchen. The electricity that had been retrofitted into the house was not bad, but she had a feeling if she tried to run a lamp and her microwave at the same time the whole thing would short out. So she left the lights off, getting a little sunlight from the windows. Her microwave beeped as it finished heating up the remains of last night's dinner, a green chile tamale.

She wolfed it down, pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, and made her way outside. Her boots she had left outside, not wanting to track mud and who knows what else inside. She quickly got them on. Ready for the day, she made her way over to the pens. They weren't in such a bad shape, but the pole fences would need some welding. And that tin shading needed to be nailed down in a couple of places. Plus, the water trough was cracked along the side.

She pulled the remains out from the pen, dragging it along to a clear space. While she was out, she grabbed a stereo she had brought. The massive, clunky yellow DeWalt stereo was one of the toughest things she had ever owned.

Even dropping it in water hadn't fried it.

Then she walked the pens, collecting little bits of wire that had come off of the fence, or been used to hold the shades down and had rusted through. The wire went into the trough, as did any trash she found in the area. Fields and pastures always seemed to get some form of refuse, usually plastic bags that blew in on a breeze. She hummed along to the song on the radio, the latest country hit from some one she didn't really follow.

"You're up." A deep voice brought her out of her task. She looked up, Roy was leaning against the fence, a foot propped up on the lowest rail.

Alex stood up, stretching her back. "Well I don't want to be out here in the heat later." Gathering the plastic bag filled with more plastic bags and beer cans, she walked through the gate towards the water trough. "Question is, why are you up?"

She could hear him following her, and he stopped to speak. "I do not require much sleep."

"Really?" She could only laugh at that. "I'd think with you being in the Army you'd be trying to get more sleep now that you're home." She squatted down by the trough, fishing out wire.

"In the Army?"

"Obviously, the hair cut. The muscles, your whole '_I'm intimidating_' attitude." Alex stood up, brushing herself off. She had always been taller than the other women she had known, and even with the inch or two from her boots, Roy still had a good four inches on her.

Roy didn't reply at first, he merely snorted and shook his head. "Nice guess, but you're far off."

"What, Marines?"

"No."

_Well aren't you mister informative. _Alex grabbed the end of the trough and pulled it towards her truck. Roy made no move to help, merely following behind her, gravel crunching under his feet. He didn't do anything but watch as she pulled the trough into the bed, almost smirking as she leapt down. Alex met his glare with one of her own. "You just enjoying the show?"

That was how it usually went with these guys. Feed store boys, hay salesmen, even a few people she had hired to help with a harvest one time; they were all alike. Always found an excuse to admire the view without helping out.

Roy fit right in.

"I do not know what you are referring to." He said curtly, not moving as she stepped closer. "You seemed to be more than capable of maneuvering that thing." Alex wanted to come back with some witty retort, but she came up with nothing.

"Either help out, or get out of the way." She snapped, stalking back to the bunkhouse. She returned with her keys, and quickly strapped herself into her truck. Roy still stood by the bed, watching. Just as she started the engine, he sidled up to the window. He tapped on it, a quick rap. Against her better judgement, she rolled it down.

"You said you required help. With what?"

Alex tightened her lips, almost sneering. "Welding, if you want. But I need to go rent a welder."

"I will see you when you return." He said, stepping back. Alex quickly drove, planning her trip in her head; first to the dump, then to the local equipment rental store. When she glanced up to the rearview mirror, she was keenly aware of Roy's eyes on her, somehow finding hers through the mirror.

She shivered, then turned up the classic rock she usually listened to.

* * *

Roy watched the miserable scrap of steel she called a truck drive away, not moving until his sensors lost her signal entirely. Once she was gone he turned to the house, moving towards the door. It was a simple phase, and he was in. He stepped around the boxes that littered the floor, peering at their contents. Mostly books, topics ranging from obscure anthologies to some modern ones he had seen Mikaela reading when she came by base occasionally.

No visible weapons, which was good. It tended to be that those who would readily use weapons tended to unpack and clean them after a trip. He always did with his cannons, as did Will with his guns. So that was preferable.

"Rwor?"

He looked up at the hall, glaring at the massive white dog that had suddenly appeared. The beast yawned, displaying teeth the size of the rat that Sam Witwicky called a pet. It padded toward him, and suddenly all he could remember was the warm, wet lubricant that the rat had leaked on him. It paused before him, tail held up in the air. He stepped back. "Go away."

It just came closer.

"Stand back."

The beast had actually got him pinned against a wall. He was either going to phase his hologram out, or beat the thing if it even tried. He stiffened as it came up to his side. But instead of lifting its leg and soiling him, it just pressed its head against his hand. It moved around, trying to coax him into scratching its head. He pulled away, moving for the bedroom. The beast followed, its tail now wagging happily.

The bedroom held little surprise. He saw a pile of clothes that she must have slept in, thrown aside on the floor. Two more beasts were in the room, lounging on the bed. He bared his teeth, growling a little. They merely cocked their heads, ears perking up. Primus, after this inspection he was never coming back into this bunkhouse. He phased back outside, making his way back to the house. Will was standing there, smirking as he walked up.

"Find anything 'Hide?"

He didn't respond, stalking back up the steps and into the house.

"That's what I thought."


	3. Delivery

She came back a little later than she had thought she would.

Okay, a lot later.

And she came back with a lot more than she had originally left for. Yes she had a welder, and a new water trough, but those sat at the very end of the rental trailer she had picked up for the day. There were more boxes, plus a couch and television loaded in it as well. It had just so happened that a family had been having a yard sale as she drove by, and she couldn't help herself. She bought a few things, was pretty sure she got screwed over on the television, and then went to the equipment rental store.

She pulled her truck around to the pens, noting that the big black GMC was gone. She could only see Will in that one. Sarah didn't quite strike her as the truck type. The trailer stopped with a rattle, and she quickly tossed the new water trough into the pens. _I'll position it later, now I just need to get this couch off. _She gave it a savage pull, but it only scraped along a couple of inches. Finally she managed to get it off the trailer, which then required a rest of several minutes until she could stand to carry the television. She stowed that away in the house, decided to leave the couch where it was, and unloaded the welder.

It was older, but it was still a nice MIG. Alex grabbed a few extension cords she had snagged as well, connecting them to the outlet in the shop and pulling them along until they reached the welder. She didn't plug it in just yet, instead grabbing her welding mask, jacket, and gloves from the toolbox in the bed of her truck. Properly equipped, she plugged it in, hooked up the electrode to the fence, adjusted the gas and electricity levels, and lightly touched the end of the wire to the fence.

A couple of sparks flew, and she could smell the gas coming off of it.

With a smile, she situated the broken pole and got to welding.

* * *

Will hadn't exactly planned to run to the base today, but he had. Something about a low inventory of sabot rounds, Epps had said. Turns out Skids and Mudflap had been stockpiling them in a hole, planning on getting Ironhide to shoot it someday. Instead, 'Hide had knocked their helms together, helped Epps and Will load the rounds on a truck to haul back to base before kicking two afts all the way back.

Will stopped him in the shade of the house, patting his dash in thanks. He got out and shut his eyes at the brief flash that indicated 'Hide's holoform coming out. Holoforms had been an interesting, well actually quite weird, concept at first, but he didn't mind it. Being a little weirded out was better than having a sore neck from staring up twenty feet in the air. Ironhide merely nodded to him, instead turning down towards the bunkhouse.

He kept a steady pace, not the easiest thing to do on gravel. He could hear some sort of commotion going on, figures running across the gravel, and oh dear Primus, barking. He stopped before the bunkhouse, unsure of the sight. Two of the dogs were racing around, trying to bite the feet of a large sofa as Alex struggled to move it. The large white one that had assaulted him last time was currently sitting on the sofa, tongue hanging out happily. Alex quit her futile struggle when she saw him.

"Are you just going to watch?" She snapped, returning to dragging the sofa, or at least trying to. He walked over, grabbing the other end and lifting it up. For him it was not heavy, but she flailed for a moment before getting a hold on it. She glared at the white dog. "Callie, off."

It gave a whine but jumped down, instead following right behind him as they carried the couch into the house. Alex smiled at him as they set the couch down, reaching over to rub the dog's head. "She likes you, Roy."

He glowered, trying to move away. "The feeling is not mutual."

"More of a cat person?"

"No."

"Well come on, you've got to like something."

He considered this for a moment. He hadn't cared much for the native life on Cybertron, and he had been biased against any earth form except humans thanks to that horrible rat the Witwickys owned. "I enjoy driving."

"You have a car here?" Alex asked, sitting so Callie could put her front paws on her lap. "Which one?"

"The GMC Topkick."

Alex rolled her eyes, "I thought that was Will's."

Ironhide felt an eyebrow twitch involuntarily. Own him? Sure he'd let Will go for a ride, but own him? He'd sooner tear out his own processor than let some person, Cybertronian or human, own him. He tried to speak for a moment, finally succeeding. "Will and I work together, but it is my truck."

Alex was about to respond when they both heard gravel crunching, accompanied by a rather angry banging. He watched as she went to the door, giving the dogs a short command that left them sitting as the two of them went outside. An older Dodge sat out front, a goose-necked trailer hooked up. The loud banging was coming from the trailer, along with a few angry snorts. Will quickly popped his head around, apparently having followed the truck from the house. "Alex, this guy says this is yours?"

Roy watched as Alex walked forward, slapping her hand against the driver's window.

Hard.

The window rolled down, revealing the smiling face of an younger man. Alex glared at him for a moment, before turning to Will. "Yeah, I do. This is my brother, Jake Tarleton. He has a problem with calling ahead."

"Christ, Alex. It's your horse I'm dropping off. And your damn trailer." He grumbled as he got out. Ironhide watched as he moved back to the rear of the trailer. "And he is pissed off too."

Alex watched as he pulled down the ramp, then opened the two doors. She smiled when she saw what was inside. She waved her brother off, walking forward to untie the painted gelding from the side of the trailer. He sniffed at her for a moment, then rubbed his nose against her hand. She ruffled his ears as she undid the knot, "Good boy, Comanche."

Ironhide joined Will, watching as the now calm horse walked down the ramp, perfectly content to be tied to the fence in the pasture. Alex's fingers were deft as she undid the buckles, pulling it off over his head. The horse pranced around for a few moments, huffing and blowing at the new smells before putting his head down in the grass. Alex joined them, as did Jake after he unhooked the trailer.

Ironhide did not like this other human. He was too much like Sam, talking about parties and things he was planning on doing with all of his friends. Alex stayed quiet for most of it, finally shooing him away when he started to talk about some bikini bash. Jake jumped back into the truck, tires flinging gravel as he drove away. Will walked over to the fence, watching the horse. Alex joined her, and Ironhide walked over, standing a bit away.

Will looked up. "He's really pretty."

"Thanks, he cost a pretty penny." Alex smiled, especially when the horse came trotting over to the fence. Of course it bypassed them, heading straight for Ironhide. He started to back away, but stopped when Alex was suddenly by his side. "Don't run, he just wants to see you." She grabbed his hand, extending it out. Her hand held his flat, and Comanche sniffed it, apparently deciding that he was not going to harm him. Alex dragged his hand down the horse's forehead, ruffling his forelock.

The horse whickered when he withdrew his hand.

"Aw, he likes you."

_Primus, why must all the animals this girl has seem to find me irresistible?_

* * *

**AN: Thank you guys for reading! I hope you're enjoying this, and more characters will be introduced as the story continues!**

**Please review!**


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